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Written by László Gergely
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02 03 2007 |
opening: 2007. March 07. 20h
on view until: 2007. April 04.
The series treads the line between documentary and constructed photography.
It thematises and reconstructs an idiosyncratic ritual performed periodically within my family.
It deals with the fact that my father left our family house almost a decade ago, leaving a large part of his wardrobe behind.
Every few month he comes back in order to choose certain clothes he
needs. He puts them on and wears them for a while inside the house,
walks around the garden, returns to contemplates his reflection in the
mirror.
This act has a twofold meaning for me. Within our family structure, it
can be read as re-appropriation of the house and reliving the mutual
family history. But from a less personal viewpoint, it closely
resembles the fashion catwalk.
Since a person's dress codes is always inscribed by given social
influences, I treat this specific family ritual from a rather
"objective" perspective, turning my father into a fashion model and
asking him to pose in the chosen clothes on different locations in and
around the family house. In this way, the personal story remains
present as a background context, which is only hinted at; but which,
nevertheless, shapes the surface narrative.
The photographs are made as a direct reference to those fashion
magazine editorials where a single model appears in a series of images
on different sets. The important difference, however, is the fact that
my father strikes poses, which are an amalgam between his normal
postures and his interpretation of the expected attitudes of
professional fashion models. Therefore, the resulting images, although
staged, retain certain qualities of family photographs. My father's
identity is at the same time revealed and concealed as he acts out his
two dominant roles - the sportsman and the businessman.
www.paulamuhr.de
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